SERCOS and FDT pull together for open systems
The SERCOS and FDT open standards user organizations have agreed to create an addendum to the FDT specification for SERCOS III. Therefore, SERCOS III will be the first high-performance real-time Ethernet communication standard to support FDT technology, which is used by many manufacturers to connect fieldbus devices to a wide range of software environments.
FDT technology standardizes the communication interface between fieldbus devices and engineering tools. Extending the FDT specification to SERCOS III will allow users to configure SERCOS III devices via FDT’s DTM device drivers. DTMs offer special functionality for detailed device configuration and analysis via a graphical user interface. DTM provides a window for the start-up, parameterization and diagnosis of fieldbus devices, thus reducing the complexity of applications and increasing transparency for users and service technicians.
The collaboration between the FDT Group and SERCOS promotes open standards in factory automation-from the field to machine control. Design engineers and developers can combine products from different manufacturers in their automation systems due to the clearly defined interfaces.
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